One theory is the it’s because it takes a while to absorb the knowledge of your predecessors.

Scientists spend ages 5 through 18 in school, and then ages 18 through 30ish getting their academic degrees. Then a few years of learning on the job, and presto! . Meanwhile, scientific breakthroughs tend to be less common in old age because we invest less in learning as we get older, and our skills gradually become less relevant.

Josh Worth created a horizontal map of the solar system using a scale of 1 pixel = diameter of moon. There’s a lot of nothing out there (but Josh does add some amusing commentary to help pass the time scrolling between planets).

In theory, the sun should hit it’s apogee (highest point overhead) at noon. But that doesn’t happen in much of the world, for a variety of reasons. The below map by Stefano Maggiolo details the discrepancies.

Based on an analysis of 4,191,533 flights and 1.3 billion air fares, “in 2013 the best time to buy a domestic airline ticket was 54 days in advance, or 7 1/2 weeks on average.” Check out the related article for other insights.